Christmas Preparations Not!

Just thought I’d pass on this link from Handmaiden. Lots of links here to give you ideas for making Xmas presents. With a thesis to write I will definitely not be having a right old, sewing presents xmas; the credit card might take a hammering instead!!!

Cheers

The end is nigh

Today is the last day of the year and traditionally a time for looking back at what has been achieved (or not! although I prefer to look to the positives) and also to look forward to a new year with hope and optimism. It has been a very busy year, but that’s nothing unusual! I have enjoyed and found time for all the creative, inspirational fun that textile art brings and had an absolutely wonderful time with all the on and off line, extraordinarily friendly and talented textilers/embroiderers I have met.

So here is an ode to the year that was:

Year’s End

 So….time ticks on

The year is spent

In

Times of sadness and pain and death

Times of joy and love and birth

Sharing with friends and family…

In person

Online

By post

To and fro

Strength and support

Creating from the soul

Healing from the heart

Linking

Across time and space

Okay, that’s enough sentimentality. 

Here are a couple more items finished:

Claudia’s xmas ATC’s; Claudia drew the pictures of her ‘crazy’ angels and they were printed onto cotton, then made into the cards.

And a close up:

The triangular ones were made to fit into her little gift pouches:

Thanks to xmas I now have a tidy stitching nook (as compared to a before photo not too long ago) 

Photo uploader is being quite temperamental tonight so I will finish with a few happy shots of xmas day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a last one of all the crew, some look like they’ve had a VERY VERY BIG day.Cheers

The House is Springed

We have been very busy spring cleaning ready for our xmas visitors, it’s a great incentive to clean out all the mess that seems to accumulate in a house of six over the year.

We received some beautiful ATC’s from Anne in France today. They are just amazing and Clauda has added them to her album. We are working on our return ATC’s but they might not arrive before xmas, so they might have to be New Year’s greetings.

I found a great tutorial at Gina’s blog (via Sharon’s Pin Tangle) for the little triangle gift bags. I drafted a pattern on A4 scrap paper using the protractor. This made the triangle 210mm (Gina suggested 9 ” [225mm]so mine is a tiny bit smaller).

I then followed Gina’s instructions to cut out two different fabrics and sew right sides together with a gap to turn. I then folded down the corners 40mm and sewed a casing for the cord.

The edges were brought together and slip stitched to form the pouch.

Finally I threaded a double cord through to pull closed. This pouch was used for the bracelet gift from the previous post.

I will try the next one with a 50mm fold over to give a bigger opening. Gina warned me these are addictive!!

Claudia loves these and is currently working on some triangle shaped ATC’s to fit into the pouches. The funny coincidence is that Gina first bought one of these while visiting Brisbane and took it apart to work out how to make it.

Cheers